Crazy Rumor Of The Day: Apple To Invest In Facebook

Well, this one we don't buy. The latest rumor is that Facebook's next investor is going to be none other than... Apple. This one seems entirely based on the fact that Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs had dinner a while ago. Let's count the ways in which this doesn't make sense:

• Facebook already has a big strategic investor: Microsoft. Microsoft's investment includes a right to veto Google as an investor or an acquirer. Maybe their legal right is broader -- but maybe they didn't think of Apple as such a rival waaaay back in 2007 when they made the investment. But even if there's no such legal right, the huge headache this involves is enough to dissuade Zuckerberg of doing anything. This would mean war with Microsoft, with whom things have always gone well -- Steve Ballmer, probably recognizing something of the young Bill Gates in Zuckerberg, was the Big Tech CEO who had the most faith in Facebook from the start, and accepted that Zuckerberg wouldn't sell out. Zuckerberg would basically be stabbing Ballmer in the back and declaring war with him, and importing the Apple-Microsoft war inside his company.